Pope Spurns Kimchi Temptation for Embassy Fare

Pope Francis will sleep at the Embassy of the Holy See and eat outside the mission only twice during his five-day visit to Korea starting Thursday.

The pontiff will attend 16 official events here, but even when he ventures out of Seoul he will spend his nights at the embassy near Cheong Wa Dae.

But rather than another example of the pope's frugality, this is standard practice. Pope John Paul II also stayed at the embassy when he came to Korea in 1984 and 1989.

Francis will stay in the same room and have the use of the bed and desk of Apostolic Nuncio to Korea Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla.

The only meals the pope will eat outside the mission are not overly glamorous -- lunch with participants in the World Asian Youth Day on Friday and with Asian episcopates on Sunday. The youth event will include K-pop star BoA, a Catholic and the event's promotional ambassador, but take place in the cafeteria of Daejeon Catholic University, and the bishops meet at a site commemorating catholic martyrs in central Korea.

According to Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, the pope will deliver 11 sermons and other addresses during events here that also include a meeting with politicians -- four in English and the others in Italian or Latin.